RAILROAD PLACE MAT PATTERN

Many quilt block patterns look great in a quilt but wouldn’t necessarily stand on their own.  the railroad quilt block is one of those that can stand alone or in a quilt.  It’s really eyecatching and I thought that it would make a great patchwork place mat pattern.

Cutting requirements

fourteen 2.1/2″ squares in both colours

four 2.7/82 squares in both colours

wadding and backing fabric about 14″ square, about 55″ of 2.1/2″ binding fabric

Making the place mat

 

Use the 2.7/8″ squares to make half square triangles.  Place a red and grey square with right sides together and mark a line along the diagonal.  Sew a 1/4″ seam either side of the marked line and cut along the line to produce two half square triangles.

 

Lay the squares out in six rows of six squares.  Check the photo to make sure which way to place the half square triangles.  Sew the squares together across each row and then sew the rows together.

Lay the backing fabric with right side down and place the wadding on top.  Add the patchwork place mat with right side up.  Pin and quilt to secure the three layers together.  Stitch in the ditch quilting (sewing along the lines of the seams) works well for this project.

Trim the excess wadding and backing fabric and bind the patchwork place mat as for any quilt.  You cn find full details of quilt binding here.

This patchwork place mat is very simple to make and gives a really bright look to any dining table.